I lived in New York City from 1998 through 2007 so I've been exposed to excellent pizza. Pizza and bagels are two of the foods I have missed most since moving to Charlotte. They just don't make them down here like they do up there. Recently I went to True Crafted Pizza for the first time after reading an article about it in the Observer. I had low expectations but was very pleasantly surprised.
I ordered the grilled margarita pizza with caramelized onions. The crust was perfectly done: thin, flavorful with a nice texture - not crispy (except maybe on the very ends) but not too doughy. It was baked enough to be on the verge of burned, but not over the edge. The mozzarella cheese was creamy and delicious. The sauce seemed to be very basic with chunks of whole tomato. The pizza had a nice saltiness to the overall flavor, but not too much. It was truly the best pie I've had since moving here. Absolutely the most similar to NY style.
My boyfriend opted for the baked pie which had a bit of a thicker crust and was round (mine was rectangular). And his crust was also delicious - chewy, nice flavor and texture. It's too bad there isn't a True Crafted Pizza anywhere near Uptown as Ballantyne is a hike for me. All I can hope is that they flourish and decide to open another branch.
I will say, the ordering system could use some tweaks. You order at the counter and they bring you the food, which is fine except that you can't see the menu until you are right up at the cash register - talk about pressure. Being that it was our first visit we wanted to peruse the menu for a few more minutes before being pushed into a quick decision. We tried to let the people in line behind us go ahead of us but we told we could not do that since they had already assigned us a table number (or something along those lines? We were slightly unclear of the reasoning.) So we had to order very fast, but luckily our quick decisions turned out to be delicious anyway. Also the tables do feel a little bit cramped inside. Space layout could probably have been improved a bit although the atmosphere is very nice.
Nice beer selection as well. The salads looked good - we did not order one - but nice looking produce from afar!
5 stars for food, 4 stars for ordering system/space layout
We will definitely be back when we are up for another "road trip" down South! Now, if only I could find my Charlotte bagel shop...